Yes, I guess I wasn't clear with the point I was trying to make. 1961 San Diego Chargers did better than the current LA Chargers in attendance. The LA writers keep saying it's going to take a few years for the LA Chargers to build a fan base.

Actually you did MUCH BETTER than you give yourself credit for. Let's not forget that was 1961 almost 60 years ago and in a league that was at startup branded a backup league of lesser quality,,,,,,,so naturally they would draw less than NFL standards, much less, just for that fact. So your point is absolutely a scathing indictment of the Spanii and NFL decision to foresake San Diego for this amateurish soccer stadium, foresake a dedicated fanbase in San Diego that was loyal to ONE NFL team and move to a city that has zero loyalty to them.....no established fan base. Foresake San Diego for a city that has already demonstrated withing the last 20 years that it had such little regard for the NFL it could not support TWO of it's more prominent teams and both felt it necessary to leave. This was the dumbest move by the NFL in YEARS if not ever. Hope the Spanii and NFL live to regret it bigtime and have to eat crow, hopefully we are witnessing karma in progress that is well deserved. SPANOS TACO

Back when I was younger (and marginally smarter), I would tell anyone within shouting distance – and, yes, I would shout; not at a Stephen A. Smith screaming level, more of a thunderous, Howard Beale-ian lilt – that the NFL was so good on TV, it could become the first studio sport.

When I said “studio sport,” I did not mean that it literally could be played in a television studio, but that it was so made-for-TV – enhanced particularly by slow-motion replay – that there was no need for fans in the stands; the game would hold up satisfactorily at home for us even if the stadiums were empty.

Uh, I was accidentally ahead of my time.

For many NFL stadiums of late are, well, emptying out.

This entails two realities unfolding across our gridiron-fatigued Sports Nation:

1. Some stadiums are pretty empty from opening kickoff; fans are staying away.

2. Some stadiums become half-empty after halftime, with those who had showed up opting for an early exit.

Alas, this burgeoning attendance slump is an indirect product, in part, of the never-ending rich man’s parlor game of musical stadiums.

In the 19th century, manifest destiny was a widely held belief in the United States that its settlers were destined to expand across North America. In the 21st century, manifest destiny is a widely held belief in the NFL that its owners are destined to build taxpayer-funded stadiums across North America.

(Think about this: We don’t give, say, Safeway money to build a supermarket in a poor neighborhood that needs a grocery store, yet we repeatedly give billionaires millions of dollars to build a stadium for their teams.)

But St. Louis would not cave to Stan Kroenke, so his Rams fled to Los Angeles. And San Diego wouldn’t cave to Dean Spanos, so his Chargers also fled to Los Angeles.

Suddenly Los Angeles has two NFL teams, though Couch Slouch sat here in this very column space and told all the world that we in L.A. didn’t even crave one stinkin’ NFL team.

Meanwhile, Oakland would not cave to Mark Davis, so his Raiders – in the process of The Long Goodbye – will flee to Las Vegas in three years.

And let’s not forget the 49ers, where owner Jed York was stadium-frustrated by San Francisco, so he moved the team from the city itself to Santa Clara, 45 minutes away, which would be like the Pope moving Easter Sunday Mass from St. Peter’s Basilica to Applebee’s in Fiumcino.

As a result, there have been a lot of empty seats in places the NFL should not be.

Google “sparse” crowds and you get photos of two things: NFL games in Los Angeles and Roseanne Barr concert dates.

Last week the Redskins-Rams game at the Coliseum drew 56,612 and the Dolphins-Chargers game at StubHub Center drew 25,381. One night earlier, the Texas-USC game at the Coliseum drew 84,714, more than the 81,993 combined that showed up for the Rams and the Chargers.

Frankly, L.A. has greeted the arrival of the Chargers with all the fanfare of the latest port-a-potty on Wilshire Boulevard.

At the 49ers’ season opener, as the game wore on, Levi’s Stadium looked more like Kmart five minutes after closing. The stands were so sparsely filled in the third quarter, I thought the Panthers and the 49ers had been sent home at halftime and an MLS game had replaced them.

The fan downswing is even affecting franchises not on the move – the last couple of seasons, stadiums in Washington, Cleveland, Minnesota, Jacksonville, Tampa Bay and Cincinnati have hosted crowds well below capacity.

I glanced in on the fourth quarter of the Titans-Jaguars game Week 2; I had a bigger crowd for my second divorce.

From an optics standpoint, the NFL should convince its TV partners to just focus on the field rather than show any crowd shots. This worked for POTUS on Inauguration Day.

Ah, but I’m thrilled to sit at home watching NFL contests that no one is attending; I’m just rooting against the Patriots. For all I care, they could play the games in a TV studio.
...

SAN DIEGO — The banners that have been flown over the StubHub Center the past two Sundays have angered Los Angeles Chargers owner Dean Spanos, but it looks like there’s not a lot he can do about it.

Disgruntled Chargers fan Joseph MacRae bought a banner to fly over Carson to send a message to Dean Spanos about how much San Diego fans detest the move to L.A.

Recently, Spanos tried to stop it by contacting the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and requesting a temporary flight restriction (TFR) for game days.

However, the FAA only grants TFRs for stadiums and arenas that hold 30,000 or more, and since the StubHub Center capacity is under 30,000 — the Chargers announced a sellout at 25,386 during their game with the Kansas City Chiefs last Sunday — the FAA will not grant the TFR.

This is classic Spanos. Dummy. I hope he keeps waking up in a cold sweat at night screaming after seeing those banners flying across the sky in his nightmares, followed by being attacked by Killer Spanos Tacos.

This is classic Spanos. Dummy. I hope he keeps waking up in a cold sweat at night screaming after seeing those banners flying across the sky in his nightmares, followed by being attacked by Killer Spanos Tacos.

Dean's a little biatch... a little cry baby... when he was a kid he would get picked on by a Bully and instead of facing it he would cry to the Dean... then pretend he never said anything pretending it was never him that made a complaint. Little Punk *** Biatch...